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LIVE STOCK 

A PRODUCER OF WEALTH 




BERKSHIRE HOGS 



Compiled by 

CLARENDON DAVIS, PRESIDENT 

HUNTSVILLE BANK CSi TRUST CO. 

Huntsville, Ala. 



LIVE STOCK 

A PRODUCER OF WEALTH 




HUNTSVILLE BANK & TRUST CO. 



Compiled by 

Clarendon Davis, President 

Huntsville Bank & Trust Co. 

Huntsville, Ala. 



Copyrighted, 1913, by Clarendon Davis 



Nashville, Tenn. 

McQuiDDY Printing Co. 

1913 



THE TENNESSEE VALLEY 







'HEN God created the Tennessee Valley, he smiled 
upon it. He made a beautiful undulating prairie and 
dropped cloud-tapping mountains here and there, 
forming fertile valleys, traced with sparkling streams 
of pure water ; and over all he threw a mantle of 
stately forests and nutritious grasses. 
Nature made this country a " farmer's paradise." Had man done 
his part, what a beautiful panorama would now be presented to the 
eye of man ! A country clothed in its original fertility ; its valleys 
flecked here and there with pretty homes, amidst fields of cotton 
and cereals ; its pastures extending over the rolling lands and far up 
the mountain sides ; the cattle, with their well-filled paunches, 
quietly resting under the shade of the trees, would be a picture 
of peace and plenty nestling over all like a benediction. 

What man has destroyed must be rebuilt, and to those farmers 
and business men who will join us in our effort to restore this coun- 
try to its original beauty and worth this little book is respectfully 
dedicated. 

HUNTSVILLE BANK AND TRUST COMPANY. 



©CI.A851873 



THE BANKER AND THE FARMER 



T has only been in very recent 3'ears that a farmer in the 

South could borrow from a bank. His merchant was his 

' banker, or else he went to a money lender for his loans. 

In fact, under the old banking regime the average borrower, be 

he farmer or merchant, went to the banks to borrow under urgent 

necessit}^ for he dreaded the visit to that little partitioned-off cor- 




Huntsville Bank and Trust Company 

ner which held the cashier's desk and an extra chair. It was like 
walking into the ammoniated chamber of an ice factory to get re- 
lief from the cold world. Your blood was chilled to the freezing- 
point by the thought of the great and generous favor 3'ou were 
about to ask for. You went there asking for a favor ; and as 3'ou 
dangled your hat in your hand or wiped cold beads of perspiration 



LIVE STOCK 

from your brow, you gladly welcomed a " Yes " or " No " for the 
relief it brought from that awful suspense. You felt as grateful 
for the " No " as you expected to feel for the " Yes." You made 
a break for the door like a loose mule out of the barn on a frosty 
morning, and put distance between you and that financial iceberg. 
The farther you retreated, the warmer the air seemed to feel ; and 
as you turned to get one last look at that mystery of mysteries, you 
wondered at your courage that4ed you to face it. 

Now be honest. Did you ever have that experience? Or was it 
you never got up the necessary courage? 

The Huntsville Bank and Trust Company realizes that its inter- 
ests and the interests of the farmer are identical. They cannot be 
separated, and the bank feels that any help it can extend to the 
farmer will more than be repaid in an increase of business, besides 
the satisfaction in knowing that it is an institution that is a benefit 
to the community in which it is established. Banks are estab- 
lished for the benefit and the accommodation of those who wish to 
take advantage of the opportunities their facilities offer, and not for 
the profits or salaries of those who run them. The first duty of a 
bank is to safeguard the interest of its customers, regardless of the 
profits derived therefrom. We want the farmers' banking busi- 
ness, and promise them fair and courteous treatment and all accom- 
modations consistent with prudent banking. We extend to you an 
invitation to become a customer. It matters not how small, your 
account will be welcome. 

We want you to feel that you are always welcome to bring your 
financial troubles to us, and that we will always try to help you. 
Make this bank your headquarters and meeting place while in town. 
Write your letters or transact any private business. We will as- 
sist you in figuring out your sales tickets for the sale of your farm 
products or interest on your notes ; in fact, we want you to fully 
realize that we run this bank for your accommodation and infor- 
mation. It matters not whether you are making a deposit, asking 
for a loan, having us figure up a cotton ticket, or want a bulletin 
on some special farm product or to place your valuable papers in 
our vault for safe-keeping, we will try to make you feel that you 
have done us a favor. 

We have spent years in studying and practicing farm methods 

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LIVE STOCK 

best adapted to our soil and climate. We have spent years experi- 
menting, and have kept an accurate account on the money returns. 
We are familiar with the needs and conditions of the farmer. We 
have not only made a study of successful farming in this county, 
but in other counties of this State and some counties in other States 
having the same soil and climatic conditions. 

We have gathered a fund of information that is yours for the 
asking. If we cannot help you, we will bring some one into the 
county who can, as we have been assured of the hearty cooperation 
of the United States and State Departments of Agriculture, State 
Experiment Station, and the Southern and Nashville, Chattanooga 
and St. Louis Railways, with their armies of experts. 

CLARENDON DAVIS. . 



THE BUSINESS FARMER 




JS the farmer prospers, so will every other line of business 
prosper. He is a wealth producer, and upon his shoulders 
rests the financial prosperity of the State. If he fails, the 
State fails. Then it becomes the duty of every citizen, every com- 
mercial enterprise, to encourage and assist him in his efforts for 
better credits, better farms, better stock, better buildings, roads, 
schoolhouses, and churches, that he and his family may enjo}^ bet- 
ter social conditions and enjoy the pleasures and some of the lux- 
uries of this life. 

Good roads and the telephone and the rural mail have put the 
farmer in touch with the outside world, and those who are ambi- 
tious to rise above the common level have become thinkers and 
students and are rapidly making themselves recognized as busi- 
ness men. 

The gap separating the wide-awake business farmer from the 
slipshod, fertility-destroying individual who plants in the moon 
and depends upon nature for the profit is broadening every day. 
The business farmer is advancing with the rest of the world, while 
his unfortunate neighbor who farms as did his ancestors is drifting 
down the stream of adversity. 

The common conception of the business side of the farmer is 

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LIVE STOCK 




1. Young Mules. 2. A Farm Home 

to sow, reap, haul the products to town, sell them for what they 
bring, pay your debts, and go back home to start all over again. 

The farmer of to-day must be a business man, contrary to the 
common conception of what it takes to be a farmer. 



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LIVE STOCK 

The success of a business is measured by results. The success 
of a farmer is not measured by his efforts, but by the results of his 
efforts. Results are what count. The crop result of an acre de- 
termines the value of the soil. If by business methods in cultiva- 
tion and business methods in placing the products on the market 
we are enabled to double the income from our land, we more than 
double the value of our lands. 

To increase the productiveness of the land requires careful thought 
and stud3^ One hour of rest plus one hour of thoughtful consid- 
eration of a definite plan is equal to four hours of scattering manure 
or sixteen hours between the handles of a bull-tongue plow. The 
productiveness of our land, measured by the cost of production, 
determines the degree of success of farming as a business venture. 
Productiveness of the soil is not determined by the muscular effort 
expended in its tillage, even though supplemented with commer- 
cial fertilizers. Many a farmer has confused commercial fertili- 
zers with brains. He has tried to substitute commercial fertilizers 
for brains. He has tried to substitute the offal and carcass of the 
ox and the remains of prehistoric animals for the gra}' matter lying 
dormant in his head. 

There is more plant food in one ounce of brain than in a car load 
of commercial fertilizers when it comes to a permanent growth of 
productiveness. 

Commercial fertilizers are a Godsend when properly used and a 
curse when used to stimulate the land for present needs. Stimu- 
lation to-day lessens the productiveness of to-morrow. We cannot 
lessen the cost of production if we lessen productiveness. 

The greatest problem confronting the Southern farmer is that 
of productiveness. The greatest business opportunity in all this 
country lies under our feet. It is the restoration of our unproduc- 
tive lands. 

The business opportunity of the South is the restoration of the 
unproductive soils. It is more profitable to build up unproductive 
soils that were once good than it is to farm the average productive 
ones. It is provoking to hear a stranger, let alone one of our citi- 
zens, speak of the worn-out lands of the South. There is no worn- 
out land in the South. If it was once good, it is still good. It may 
be unproductive, made so by unbusinesslike methods. We have 

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LIVE STOCK 

sapped its life. We have changed its mechanical condition, and 
now it is a dead soil, but one that can easily be brought back to a 
high State of productiveness. 

It is a common failing to neglect the opportunities at our feet 
because they have becomei commonplace by long association. We 
long for the fleshpots of the North or seek the golden opportunities 




1. Corn Field of Clarendon Davis. 2. Clarendon Davis' Cattle on Bermuda 
3. Wheat Field of Madison County 



of the West, and are led away by a mirage of plenty to lands where 
adverse conditions excite our inert energy to conquer ; and we build 
prosperous towns, cities, and communities by the brain and muscle 
that justly belong to the land of our birth. 

I used to think there were some of our lands that Providence 
made in order to keep from being a hole in the ground, or just to 

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LIVE STOCK 

hold better portions together. I now believe all lands, of what- 
ever character, are intended to be utilized for some good purpose. 

In the northwest corner of my home county is a strip of land 
known as the "barrens" that a few years ago was considered worth- 
less as farm land and could have been bought for $2.50 per acre. 
It is an extension of the Highland Rim of Tennessee. As the 
Farm Demonstrator of my county, I secured the cooperation 
of a gentleman sixty-five years of age to farm twenty acres of 
his land by the improved methods as outlined by the Department 
of Agriculture, with the results that have astonished the whole 
country. This gentleman has proved that the Highland Rim 
soil is as good as the rest of the world. He raised oats to the value 
of $75; hay, $150; corn average, forty-five bushels to the acre, 
$276.25 ; peas grown between the corn rows, $35 ; one-half bale of 
cotton at $12.65; cotton seed, $16 a ton. The total was $850. 
After deducting the cost of labor and fertilizer of $125, we have a 
net profit of $725, or $36.25 net per acre. In this case it was not the 
land ; it was the man. It was an illustration where brains were 
used. It is an example for the rest of the farmers of the South. 
What one man can do all can do, if the use of the same care and 
judgment is employed. 

The average income over and above cost of taxes, insurance, 
labor, and general farm expense of the six and one-half million 
farms of this country is $700, or less than $2 a day. Just think of 
it — $2 ! Is this enough for the average farmer ? Is this enough 
for him to meet his church dues, buy his clothing, his carriage, or 
his automobile? The mechanic makes more than this, and no cap- 
ital invested other than his brains. Two dollars a day profit is not 
enough for the average farmer, and to increase this we must in- 
crease productiveness and lessen cost of production and use more 
businesslike methods in marketing the crops. 

It is a simple matter to increase the producing capacity of our 
soil, if we will conform to a few simple rules laid down by nature. 
Take, for instance, one of the old, unproductive fields of our farm. 
If we would let it alone. Nature would restore it ; but, with our as- 

Six months' work on the farm will not produce six months' in- 
come. 

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LIVE STOCK 

sistance, she will do in five years what it would take her twenty 
years to do alone. 

The first essential is to add humus to the soil by turning under 
some vegetable matter, it matters not what. Plant anything that 
will give the greatest growth, and stimulate to the rankest growth 
by the use of commercial fertilizers ; and when it has reached its 
full maturity, turn it under. Then if the soil is deficient in lime, 
which is the case with the jnajority of the soils of the South, add 
the ground rock and harrow it in. Few realize the great value of 
the sorghum plant as a source of humus. This plant will make 




Thrashing 

more growth on thin soil than any other. It is said to be very 
exhausting to the soil, and it is if we remove the crop ; but in our 
soil building we must return all of the growth from our first crops. 
If the growth is turned under in the fall and rye sown to be turned 
under in the late spring, we will be in shape to sow the land in 
clover or peas. Land so treated and sown to clover or peas, with 
liberal applications of phosphates and potash, will almost insure a 
good crop if the rainfall is sufficient. 

When we can grow heavy crops of clover and peas, even with 
liberal use of commercial fertilizers, the soil will increase in fertil- 
ity, if we keep in mind that we must add humus. 

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LIVE STOCK 

It is said that $250,000,000 is burnt up every year on the farms 
of this countr}'. That means $41 of vegetable matter is burnt up 
every year, on an average, to every farm. A soil builder will never 
burn up grass, stubble, or even weeds. He knows too well the hu- 
mus-forming value of these. 

Humus first, then lime, then nitrogen, is the ke}aiote. Humus 
is placed first because it is the " soul of the soil." Without it we 
can never become soil builders. It makes the soil porous, retentive 
of heat and moisture, and tends by chemical action to liberate the 
mineral plant foods. In short, it makes a dead soil a live soil. 

You cannot make money on poor land. Then build it up by per- 
sistently feeding it with vegetable matter, be' it by plowing it un- 
der or feeding the products to stock and returning the manure. 
The more you return to the soil, the more it will give back to you, 
with a big percentage of profit of its use. This is business. 

To be a business farmer does not necessarily mean the posses- 
sion of broad acres and unlimited capital, but it does mean that he 
is a builder, a constructor, one who is not planting and reaping 
without one thought of to-morrow, but one who farms with a view 
of increased fertility, one who builds up his acres in order to in- 
crease the value of his possessions and the value of citizenship. 

Too many farmers aim to buy more land, and thus spread their 
limited means over greater acreage, when they have failed to show 
their ability to manage what they already possess. There is not 
one farmer in the South who is getting all from his land that it is 
able to produce. When a farmer shows his ability to manage suc- 
cessfully that which he now owns, it is no trouble for him to secure 
the means to make improvements or increase his holdings. 

He has shown what financial credit he is entitled to, and it is ex- 
tended before the asking. It is true in time past that even the pro- 
gressive farmer has been handicapped by the lack of ready money 
which his credit entitled him to, and then at such exorbitant rates 
of interest that it has been the means of retarding the Southern 
farmers' advancement. In fact, farming is the only business that 
could have existed, let alone thrive, with such usurious interest they 
have been compelled to pay. 

The business farmer is no longer handicapped by this condition 
of affairs. The lawyer, the doctor, the merchant, the banker, have 

Pase 11 



LIVE STOCK 

been made to feel that all their success depends upon the success 
of the tiller of the soil; and being men of business, they see and 
are ready to extend to the farmer every aid and facility that will 
better his condition. Some of the bankers of the South have just 
realized what agricultural advancement means to them. They are 
making a close study of the farmer and his needs, and are extend- 
ing the helping hand that has so long been denied the farmer. 
They are putting their heads together to devise some means by 
which they can extend to the farmer the long-time loans so essential 
for constructive purposes. In other words, they see the necessity 




Boys' Corn Club 

of long-time loans to the farmer that are so readily available to the 
railroad and other like corporations. The national and State bank- 
ing laws prohibit this, but this need not discourage the ambitious 
farmer. He cannot afford to wait for the legislative bodies to 
make laws favoring him. His banker now knows the value of his 
collateral, and knows that the business of the business farrner is 
most desirable. You have but to show the banker that j'ou are a 
business man, however small, and he is ready to help you. Not 
you who are satisfied with your present slipshod, soil-robbing, shift- 
less, unprofitable methods ; not you who are content to work dur- 
ing the sunshiny days, six months of the year, and then sit down 



Light plows mean light crops. 



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LIVE STOCK 

and eat up the products of your six months' labor ; but the help is for 
you who aim to climb higher each year, yovi who are building up 
your soil's fertility for the needs of to-morrow, you who are not 
content to be dictated to by a speculative market that by the tick 
of the wire can wipe out the profits of a year's work. It is to you 
who live at home and are industrious and honest. 

Credit does not always depend upon what you may possess of 
these worldly goods, but more upon what you are and your standard 
as a citizen. CLARENDON DAVIS. 



TENNESSEE VALLEY A LIVE-STOCK COUNTRY 



T has been predicted by those who are in a position to know 
that the northern parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 
and parts of Kentucky and Tennessee will be the center of 
the beef-producing section of this country. In fact, the future must 
look to this section for its meat supply. Beef has been produced 
cheaper in the South than anywhere else in the world. 

Live stock on the farm is the greatest factor in restoring and 
maintaining lost fertility. Cattle, hogs, and sheep are the great- 
est assets of the farm. The one-crop system reduces fertility ; 
stock raising produces fertility. The one-crop system reduces hu- 
_ mus, " the soul of the soil ; " stock raising increases the humus. 
The one-crop system decreases yields ; stock raising increases 
yields. The one-crop system is productive of mortgages ; live- 
stock raising prevents the mortgages. 

Live-stock raising is the panacea for all the evils of the present 
system of farming now too common to the South. It is the virus 
by which we may inoculate ourselves against financial distress 
that periodically visits the South. The one-crop system as prac- 
ticed in the South has meant a constant warfare against grass. 
Grass means live stock, live stock means fertility, fertility means 
wealth. When you destroy grass, you destroy wealth. 

This is a natural grass country ; and had our meadows and pas- 
tures the same attention that we have given our other crops, this 
section would have been many times more productive, her surface 

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LIVE STOCK 




1. Jersey Bull. 2. Draft Stallion 

more pleasing to the eye, and her financial condition of a higher 
standard. 

In fighting grass, we have been fighting Nature's good intentions. 
No system of farming can hope to be successful that does not as- 



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LIVE STOCK 

sist and encourage Nature in her efforts to build up the soil's fer- 
tility by growing those crops best adapted to her soil and climate. 
It only means financial ruin for the farmer and a setback to Nature. 
Notwithstanding the setback grass has had, it has been able to 
prove its ability to make good crops and to produce beef, pork, and 
mutton at a profit that should have led the Southern farmer to rec- 
ognize its worth. 

Grass, with its persistency, is soon to be reinforced in its efforts 
for a more economical system of farming by the boll weevil. The 
boll weevil one year with another will destroy twenty per cent of 
our cotton crop, and this means the wiping out of all profits on a 
depleted soil. To continue to raise cotton und-er boll-weevil con- 
ditions, and to do so profitably, we must increase and maintain the 
soil's fertility. To wait until the advent of the boll weevil before 
making the change would be too late to avoid financial distress. 
We must begin now to plant grasses, clovers, and raise the stock 
necessary to consume them and convert them into food for man. 

The production of cotton can be made profitable even under boll- 
weevil conditions, but it mi.ist be under a condition where we can 
obtain maximum yields with decreased cost of production, and this 
is possible only when supplemented by live-stock raising. 

Beef shortage is world wide. The United States, once a great 
beef-producing country, with a large export trade, has sustained a 
decrease of ninety-two per cent in six years. In 1906 the United 
States exported 494,000 head, valued at $38,000,000. In 1912 she 
exported 36,000 head, valued at $3,000,000. The decrease has been 
systematically, month by month ; and it is predicted that our ex- 
ports will only be 10,000 head in 1913. In 1912 we imported 326,- 
000 head, valued at $5,300,000. In other words, the United States 
does not raise enough cattle to feed her own people. This short- 
age is not only felt in the United States, but is world wide. Aus- 
tralia, once a great cattle-exporting country, has for the past few 
years suffered from droughts that have depleted her herds and dis- 
couraged her ranchmen. Argentina, whom we have been taught 
was a menace to our export trade, has for three years suffered from 
droughts and foot and mouth disease, which have made beef-pro- 
ducing conditions unfavorable. 

The world must be fed. Where is this to come from? Here is 

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the Tennessee Valley, where we have proven our ability to raise 
beef cheaper than anywhere else. We continue to raise cotton, 
and have it thrown up to us that the low price is due to a great 
surplus carried over that the manufacturer could not use. Why 
continue to raise a surplus of a product when it would be more 
profitable to raise a product for which the suppl}' is not equal to 
the demand? Does it not seem more rational to wipe out the 
great surplus of cotton by devoting less land to its production and 




Alabama-Raised Mules 

devoting it to the production of beef, for which there is a demand 
that cannot be filled? 

Those who will take advantage of this situation of supply and 
demand are the ones who will reap the benefit. This opportunity 
is open to the small farmer, with his four or five cows, as well as the 
large farmer, with his forty or fifty. We have the foundation and 
need but the pure-bred beef bull to make the start. 

We have been for the last year selling our cows and heifers to 

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LIVE STOCK 

Northern buyers at prices that seemed good to us. We have con- 
gratulated ourselves on being able to rid our farms of this scrub 
stuff, and we have had a secret feeling that we got the best of the 
trade and really pitied the buyer. Men who would come down here 
from the North and make the fool trades we thought they were 
making are confined up there in the asylums. Those Northern 
buyers will, in a year or two, prove their wisdom in purchasing 
what to us would have been a gold mine if we would have but rec- 
ognized it in time. , . 

The Farm Demonstration Department or Bureau of Plant In- 
dustry has aptly sent out the following warning to the Southern 
farmers : 

" If the Western ranchman can afford to pay Southern farmers 
good prices for cows, pay the high freight rates to the West, stand 
the losses which naturally occur during shipping thin cattle such 
long distances, also bear the losses due to change of climate con- 
ditions, and then make money on them, why cannot the Southern 
farmer, who already owns the cattle as well as the grazing lands, 
and who needs the manure upon the soils, keep this stock on the 
farm and secure the increased profits? He can, if he will free his 
cattle of ticks, increase the efficiency of his pastures by planting 
mixtures of lespedeza, bur clover, white clover, or perhaps meli- 
lotus, alsike clover, and red top over his pasture lands, and by rais- 
ing more hays and forage crops for wintering his stock and finish- 
ing them for market. The surplus cattle can then be fattened by 
feeding cotton-seed cake on grass, grazing fields of velvet beans, 
while feeding some concentrate, or they can be finished in the dry 
lot during the winter months. For winter feeding no roughage has 
proved more valuable than silage, as the addition of it to a feeding 
ration invariably increases the size of the daily gains and reduces 
the cost of them, thereby making greater profits. The quality and 
the quantity of silage which can be produced on some of these cheap 
lands cannot be surpassed by the high-priced lands of the corn belt, 
• whereas the cost of producing it is far less because of the cheap 
labor." 

The farmers of the South are, therefore, urged to discontinue 

The one-crop system is productive of crop mortgages. 

Page 17 
2 



LIVE STOCK 

this wholesale shipping of their female cattle to other States, to 
free the pastures of the cattle tick, and to increase the numbers 
and quality of their cattle by the use of purcj-^rpd beef bulls. The 
progeny will not only grow ofif faster and i:i,iake^ larger and better 
cattk, but will be far more profitable to raise and to feed than are 
the natives. The soils will be increased in fertility, and manure, 
which- gives such profitable returns when applied to the cotton 
crqp.will put vegetable matter into the soil, thvis, reducing, the 




Stallion 

amount of commercial fertilizer necessary and increasing the avail- 
ability of this material. CLARENDON DAVIS. 



HOW TO GO INTO LIVE-STOCK FARMING WITH SMALL 
EXPENSE AND NO RISK 




; OUTHERN farming is not going to remain as it is. The big 
fact of our time, so far as agriculture is concerned, is that 
we are in a period of transition from the old, ruinous, single- 
crop system of farming to a sounder and more profitable s}rstem 

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LJViE STOCK- 

of.iggtie^al: and live-stock far^ming. Man}? farmers seem not yet to 
have realized this fact, but it is a fact, just the same. "The new. 
S]>irit of Southern farming is not :S0, much the spirit of reform as 
the spirit of revolution, and the revolution is even now taking 
place,." It is not only that Southern farmers are practicing better; 
methods, getting better macljineryji making better crops, but that 
they are turning away from the false ideas of a system which 
looked only to the crop to he; sold in the fall and accepting the new 
ideal of a farming system which looks first of all to the preserva- 
tion of the soil and links one year with another in an enduring 
efifort to add continually to the farm's productivity and to the prof- 
its the farmer shall receive from his work. The South of the future 
is going to be a land of flocks and herds, of corn fields and silos, 
of big barns and heavy machinery, of meadows and pastures, and 
all the things which go with live-stock farming. 

This change is not going to come all at once, of course, but very 
gradually ; and it is not going to come at all until farmers realize 
another big fact : that feeds must come before live stock, and that 
the grass will not be sowed nor the legumes planted to supply the 
horses and cattle and hogs and sheep, but that these animals will 
be grown and fed because of the abundance of feeds and the profits 
to be had by utilizing them. A system of live-stock farming and 
the profits that come from live-stock farming are alike impossible 
without an abundance of feeds. At the very foundation of stock 
husbandry are grass-clad fields and well-filled haymows ; and until 
these are had, any large development of the live-stock industry will 4 
be profitless, if not impossible. 

This, then, is the special message I would send the farmers of 
Northern Alabama. You have a natural live-stock country, one 
adapted to the growing of the grass and grain crops, which are at 
the basis of successful stock farming; and with your great advan- 
tages of climate over the stock-raising sections of the North ; with 
the cheapest concentrate feed in the world in your own cotton- 
seed meal ; with a soil capable, when properly treated, of growing 
almost any crop ; and with the ability to grow two crops every 
year, there is no reason why the Tennessee Valley should not be.t 
come as well known for fine live stock as Wisconsin or Illinois or 
the Kentucky blue-grass section. ; 

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LIVE STOCK 

Nor does it take a whole lot of money to go into live-stock farm- 
ing. You do not want to " go into " it at all, in fact; you want to 
" grow into " it — that is, you want to grow more pasture and feed 
crops, take better care of the stock you have, improve their quality 
by breeding only to pure-bred sires, and get other and more highly 
bred animals for breeding purposes just as you are able. Large 
farmers and small can alike follow this plan, and the reward for 
each will be both liberal and permanent. E. E. MILLER, 

Managing Editor of Progressive Farmer. 



PRODUCTIVE SOIL 




5HEN a soil produces well, we speak of it as being rich, or 
productive ; when it fails to yield good crops, we say it is 
poor, or worn out. A soil that was originally good may, 
by continuous cropping and poor methods in cultivation, become 
unproductive, but it can never be worn out. The humus contents 
have been destroyed, and it has become a compact, dead soil that 
may be brought back to a high state of cultivation if we will study 
its needs and farm it in a way that will supply its needs. 

A productive soil is literally a live soil. Every minute particle, 
so small it cannot be seen with the naked eye, is surrounded by a 
film of water, which contains millions and millions of microorgan- 
isms that are always busy breaking down soil particles, be it bits 
of rock or plants. They are busy little bodies, working in a con- 
genial home, converting and dissolving compounds into forms 
available as plant foods. Some are busy making available plant 
food from materials already in the ground, while others are just 
as busy adding plant food to the soil. Of the latter class there is 
the bacteria that enables the legumes to extract nitrogen from the 
air. 

The microorganisms will work for )'ou day and night as long 
as you provide them with a congenial home. They will take the 
growth of vegetation or the manure you have turned under and 
make it a part of the soil. As the cattle and hogs of the farm take 
the grasses and grain and convert them into food for man, so will 

Page 20 



LIVE STOCK 




1. Wheat Field of Dan Glessner. 2. Pea Field 



Rains and Fertilizers cannot be substituted for Brains and Cul- 
tivators. 

Page 21 



LIVE STOCK 

the microorganisms take the animal, organic, and mineral matter 
of the soil and convert them into food for plants. 
' These beneficial little beings must have plenty of moisture, yet 
a-n excess of water is as detrimental to their growth as not enough 
water; hence the land must be well drained. They must have 
plenty of organic matter to live on and plenty of air. In other 
vyords, a congenial home or medium in which these microorgan- 
isms will live and multiply is a welhdrained soil filled with humus- 
fbrming material, as crops turned under or where applications are 
made of stable manures. 

When crop after crop is taken from the soil and nothing given 
back, where we pursue the policy of taking that part of the crop 
that we can sell and burning the balance in order to clean the land, 
we will soon exhaust the humus contents of the soil — that element 
that makes the soil retentive of heat and moisture. The soil then 
becomes compact, the air cannot circulate through it, and it he- 
domes a wet soil in times of excessive rainfall, runs together and 
dries and bakes quickly when the sun shines hot. Under these 
conditions, the soil is found to become acid, microorganisms be- 
ciome less active and dwindle in numbers and may be entirely de- 
stroyed. The soil then becomes a dead soil. 

! The humus contents of the soil can be readily increased by the 
application of barnyard manures or turning under green crops 
grown for that purpose. No vegetable matter should ever be 
burned on the farms. All cotton and corn stalks, all grass and 
weeds should be turned under. No land should be allowed to re- 
main bare during the winter if possible. Get it seeded down to 
some winter cover crop, this to be plowed under in the spring if 
land is to be planted. A winter cover crop prevents the leaching 
of the soil by heavy winter rains. The cover crop takes up the 
plant food as it becomes available and prevents it from passing ofl: 
in the soil water. 

The loss caused by our winter rains on a soil left bare of all veg- 
etation is estimated by some to be equal to that caused by a crop 
taken from the soil during the growing season. 

The acidity of the soil is easily detected by the use of blue litmus 
paper obtainable at any drug store. Procure some and take small 
quantities from different parts of the field ; wet these samples thor- 

Page 22 



LIVE STOCK 

oughly and insert a small strip of the litmus paper in each sample. 
If the paper turns pink, it shows the soil is acid ; and this must be 
corrected by the application of ground limestone, 1,000 to 3,000 
pounds to the acre, applied after the ground is broken, as a top 
dressing, then harrowed in. 

When a corn crop of, say, forty bushels is gathered from an 
acre and the stalks cut and burned, it is equal to taking from the 
land fertility enough to produce eighty bushels of corn ; for there 
is as much plant food consumed in making the stalk as in making 
the ear, besides the loss from the beneficial results that would be 
derived in failing to turn under the humus-forming material. 

If you wish to build up your soil, you must always farm it with 
the idea of making it a congenial home for the microorganisms 
by turning under organic matter and keeping the land free of acids 
by the use of lime. CLARENDON DAVIS. 



GRASSES AND PASTURES 



1^* RASSES delight in a firm seed bed, and one is almost assured 
llswi) of a good stand with his fall or spring seeding if he will 
^^^^^^=^ sow on a well-prepared seed bed made firm by thorough 
cultivation. 

For spring seeding the ideal conditions, not only for grass, but 
oats, is found in a corn or cotton field that was well tilled the year 
previous. Cut the stalks and with disc harrow thoroughly work 
up the top soil to a depth of two and one-half or three inches; 
smooth down with spike-tooth harrow and sow the grass seed or 
sow the oats with the grass seed sown behind the drill. If early 
in the season, the grass seed should not be covered ; but later on in 
the season when the sun shines hot, it is best to cover very lightly 
with a brush, a weeder, or a roller. 

If the oats are sown very early — say, in Januar}^ or first of Feb- 
ruary — -the grass seeding can be delayed later until oats are up, 
running the slant-tooth harrow ahead of the seed sower if plenty 
of moisture is in the ground ; but if it is inclined to be dry, it is 
best to run the harrow after sowing the grass. 

Page 23 



LIVE STOCK 

Fall seeding of grass is best sown by itself, sown on a loose top 
soil and covered with roller. j\tany have succeeded well and ob- 
tained excellent stands of grass sown after the drill on fall-sown 
grains. As a usual thing, grasses on fall-sown grain are shaded 
too much to make much of a growth by the time the grain is har- 
vested and is killed by the hot sun in Jul}' and August. 

Even when sown with the spring seeding of oats, the oats should 
not be as thick as ordinarily bown. One bushel to the acre is 
enough when grass is sown with it. 




Meadow of D. K. Wall 



John Hughes' Pea Field 



The grasses that have proven most valuable for the Tennessee 
Valley, both for hay and pastures, are : Tall meadow oat, red top, 
timothy, orchard and Bermuda ; and all the clovers do well in this 
section — red, alsike, white, crimson, bur, and Japan clover. 

With such a wealth of grasses and clovers that have proven val- 
uable and well adapted to this section, there is little excuse for not 
having luxuriant pastures, both permanent and rotated, and great 
barns and ricks of nutritious hay. 

Bermuda is the greatest of all known grasses for permanent pas- 
Page 24 



LIVE STOCK 

ture. It will furnish more grazing to the acre than any single grass 
or combination of grasses known to the South. 

If small bits of sod are dropped in three-foot furrows, covered 
and cultivated as you would corn, always covering up as much as 
possible at each plowing, the grass will cover the ground before 
fall. "When not cultivated, it will in two or three years make a per- 
fect sod. 

For rotated pastures of grass, timothy, red top, orchard and tall 
meadow oat grass, with some red or alsike clover, all sown to- 
gether, makes an excellent mixture for good loamy lands. For 
the thin lands, tall meadow oat, red top, Japan, alsike, and a light 
sprinkling of white clover have been found to give excellent pas- 
ture. 

Red top and alsike clover will do their best on low, moist soils. 

One of the most popular mixtures in the red lands of East Ten- 
nessee for pasture and hay is tall oat grass and alsike clover. 

No farm, however small, is complete without its permanent pas- 
ture of Bermuda; and this should be supplemented with rotated 
pastures of the tame grasses and the clovers for spring and fall 
grazing. It is a difficult matter for those on heavy clay lands to 
have an all-winter pasture, even with the fall-sown grains, due to 
the puddling of the soil by the stock running on it, there being few 
days in January and February when ground is dry enough to hold 
up the stock. It is here that the silo will fill in the gap and virtu- 
ally permit the raising of stock on pastures the year round. 

CLARENDON DAVIS. 



CORN 




!0 successfully raise corn, we must begin our preparation at 
jf^ least one or two years before planting. No land will pro- 
duce a profitable corn crop that is not in good mechanical 
condition, and we cannot get it in a good mechanical condition 
unless we have humus in the soil. To get humus, we must plow 
under a crop of clover, peas, or even sorghum and peas in the fall 
or early spring. Humus makes the soil retentive of heat and mois- 

Page 25 



LIVE STOCK 




Corn 



A barbed-wire fence roofed with the " canopy of heaven " makes 
an expensive tool shed. 

Page 26 



LIVE STOCK 

ture, and tends by chemical action to liberate the mineral plant 
foods. 

It is ver}' dovibtful if advisable to break a heavy clay soil early 
in the fall for corn, unless it is covered with a heav}- growth of veg- 
etation. When a heavy growth is turned under early, it has time 
to partially decay and the ground has time to settle. The freeze 
and thawing of a freshly turned sod lessens the liability of damage 
from cutworms in the spring. A heavy clay land deficient of hu- 




D. K. Wall's Corn 
With Peas in the Middle 



J. B. Woodall's Corn Field 



mus, broken early in the fall, will be found to be so compact and 
run together by our heavy winter rains that the work necessary 
with disc harrows to get a proper seed bed will be found more ex- 
pensive than the late winter or spring broken land. 

Late fall and early winter are the proper times to break land 
deep. Often in the spring when the ground seems drj' enough to 
plow, you will discover that only the top three inches are in con- 
Page 27 



LIVE STOCK 

dition ; and if you set your plow to run five inches deep, you are 
plowing two inches of soil that is too wet. This is a very common 
mistake, and mau}^ have wondered why their corn " fired " or the 
yield was so low, when they had taken so great pains to break deep. 

As the time for planting draws near, the ground should be thor- 
oughly pulverized by roller or drag disc harrow. Time spent in 
thorough preparation before planting is time profitably spent. Use 
the best seed you caii procure ; seed that you have field selected. 
A little attention to the selection of seed will insure a perfect stand 
and an increased yield. 

The thinner the land, the more space the corn should have. The 
most common practice in this section where corn is checked is to 
plant three and one-half feet by three feet ten inches, leaving two 
stalks to the hill on the rich lands and one stalk on the thin parts. 
Check corn is more economical of cultivation, as the hoe is never 
required. 

On thin land, where corn must be helped out by commercial fer- 
tilizers, it is best to drill in wide rows ; and at the second cultiva- 
tion plant a row of peas in the middles, and the subsequent culti- 
vation of corn will cultivate the peas. 

If early in the corn-planting season, plant deep enough to insure 
moisture in case of a dry spell. Corn is more often planted too 
deep than too shallow. Just before the corn comes up, it is best to 
run over the field with a slant-tooth harrow ; and when the corn 
comes up, start cultivation as soon as practical, giving it a thor- 
ough, deep cultivation. The cultivations should not be, over two 
and one-half inches in seasons of plenty of moisture. During sea- 
sons of dry weather the mulch should be established early and never 
be deepened in subsequent cultivations, for fear of destroying the 
feeding roots. In the cultivation of corn one must remember that 
the corn roots are matted across a four-foot row when the corn is 
only two feet high. To disturb these roots lessens the yield of 
corn. Cultivation of a light, shallow nature should continue until 
the corn is nearly made. Planting in water furrows has proven 
beneficial for late planting, and many claim that corn thus planted 
is not so apt to be blown down during storms. 

Too often corn yields are diminished greatly after " laying by," 
a shower, followed by hot sun, forming a crust and permitting the 

Page 28 



LIVE STOCK 

moisture to escape just at a time when the corn needs the most 
moisture. Never permit a crust to form while the corn is filling. 
Work the ground from row to row with some light tool like the 
spring-tooth cultivator. Some seasons permit plowing to stop 
when the corn is beginning to tassel ; then again the light cultiva- 
tors have to continue until the corn is made. 

The ideal cultivation of corn is often the shallow, but during ad- 
verse weather conditions shallow cultivation will be of little ben- 








A Corn-Club Boy's Corn "Jungle ' 



A Corn Club Boy 



efit when the soil has become compact and the weeds and grass 
have a good start due to excessive rains. 

It is then that the ingenuity of the farmer is taxed. He must re- 
establish his depth of loose soil and destroy the weeds and grass 
with any tool best suited to the work, even though he has to do 
some root pruning. This root pruning is not as detrimental to the 
yield as that caused by a compact soil filled with weeds and grass. 

CLARENDON DAVIS. 



Page 29 



I. JVE STOCK 
BEEF CATTLE IN ALABAMA 



^s^aK work of eradicating the " Texas-fever" tick is progress- 
ing satisfactorily in the South. Every year new areas are 

=**^ freed from the tick, and witli the progress of the work there 
comes an added interest in all kinds of cattle production. When 
the ticks in a county are exterminated, renewed interest begins to 
be immediatelv manifested in the beef-cattle business, as the South- 



J. H. Cummings' Cattle 

ern farmers now realize that the '' Texas-fever " tick has been prac- 
tically the only drawback to the cattle business in the past. When 
the tick is finally exterminated, no section of the United States will 
be as well suited to beef production as the South, because of its 
mild climate, long grazing season, and cheap lands. 

There are many reasons why the Southern States should raise 
more beef cattle than are being raised at the present time. First, 
the South, under the present system of farming, has thousands of 

Page 30 



LIVE STOCK 

acres — and good ones, too — which are not being used at all. Sta- 
tistics tell us that only about forty per cent of the tillable or arable 
land of the South is being used. Sixty per cent of the land is lying 
idle, and returns to the owner not a cent in wealth. All of the 
lands cannot be used as cotton lands, because, first, there are not 
enough people to work the lands in any such way; and, second, 
many of these pauper acres are not suitable for cultivation. In 
fact, many acres that are now under cotton cultivation should be 
turned into permanent pastures and grazed with live stock. No 
State can become wealthy when only forty per cent of the land 
capital is being used. The grocer or the banker or the hardware 
merchant could not possibly make a profit on his business if he used 
only forty per cent of his capital ; and the farmer cannot hope to be 
successful in his operations until he begins to makei use of at least 
a reasonable proportion of his capital. No farming business can be 
made successful when only $4,000 out of a possible $10,000 is being- 
used. 

Then, again, beef cattle should be more generally introduced, 
because of the good they do in building up and maintaining soils. 
Under the present system of cotton farming, the soils are becom- 
ing poorer and poorer. With the introduction of cattle, the soil 
will begin to be built up. Director Thorne, of the Ohio Station, 
has been making tests with barnyard manure for several years, 
applying the manure upon a plat of ground upon which was run- 
ning a three years' rotation of corn, wheat, and clover. Eight tons 
of manure an acre were applied. The average yearly increase an 
acre, following the one application, was as follows : 

Corn, 14.7 bushels at 70 cents a bushel $10 29 

Corn stover, 744 pounds at $6 a ton 2 33 

Wheat, 8.36 bushels at $1 a bushel 8 36 

Wheat straw, 897 pounds at $4 a ton 1 79 

Clover hay, 686 pounds at $12 a ton 4 12 

Total value 8 tons of manure $26 79 

Total value 1 ton of manure 3 35 

-The chauffeur of a one-mule-power bull tongue will never make 
a record-breaking corn crop. 

Page 31 



LIVE STOCK 

He further states that the value of farm manure can be materially- 
increased by balancing the manure with the addition of a carrier 
of phosphorus. The farm manures are too high in nitrogen as 
compared with the other elements. By balancing stable manure, 
the value of eight tons was increased $12.20, after deducting the 
cost of the material used for the balancing of the manure. This 
is $1.53 a ton, or, when added to the $3.35 above, brings the total 
possible value of each ton of manure up to $4.88. During a feed- 
ing period of one hundred days each steer will produce at least 
1.5 tons of manure. This profit should be added to the feeding 
or direct profits. The Arkansas Station (Bulletin 68) made a test 
to determine the value, to each succeeding crop, of growing peas 
in the corn, gathering the corn, and then grazing both the peas and 
the stalks by the steers. The steers were being fed some cotton 
seed in addition to the grazing. As the result of this crop of peas 
and the grazing, the succeeding cotton crop was increased 626.5 
pounds of seed cotton over the area where corn alone had been 
grown. A third lot was planted to corn, and the increase in corn, 
due to the pea crop and the grazing, was 14 bushels per acre. 

A third reason why beef should be more generally produced in 
the South is that there is a demand for it, and the demand should 
be met in order that the monejr may be kept at home. During the 
year of 1907 there were about 15,151 home-raised animals slaugh- 
tered in the city of Birmingham (this includes cattle, veal, hogs, 
sheep, and kids), while there were 36,097 Western animals brought 
into the city and slaughtered. In addition to all this, thousands of 
pounds of cured meats were also retailed over the city. 

This money should be kept at home and added to the Southern 
wealth. Packing houses are now being built throughout the South, 
and good markets are assured for the beef animals which the farmer 
produces. 

The fourth reason offered in favor of beef production is that, as 
our farmers learn the value of diversification in farming operations, 
there will be an increased amount of roughage, as corn, fodder, cow- 
pea, and clover hays, soy beans, etc., which many times can be mar- 
keted more profitably through the beef animals than in any other 
way. The beef cattle serve as important machines for converting 
the surplus fodders into valuable barnyard manure, which gives to 

Page 32 



LIVE STOCK 

the growing crops not only the benefits of its fertilizing elements, 
but increases the mechanical condition of the soil by the addition 
of that important compound — humus. No animal can take the 
place of the beef steer in making use of the winter corn and cot- 
ton fields. 

Beef cattle are peculiarljr suited to fit the farming operations of 
the South. The farms are large, and many acres are not being 
used because of the lack of sufficient labor. At present there is no 
better way to put the whole farm to work than by introducing beef 
cattle into the system of farming. They require but a small amount 
of labor in addition to that used upon the average cotton farm. 
The hog, while he deserves a prominent place upon almost every 
farm, cannot be made to use all of the large uncultivated areas on 
the farms, for he is not strictly a grazing animal. JN'Iany farmers 
who have the large uncultivated areas are not now sufficiently 
skilled in the handling of live stock to introduce sheep or dairy cat- 
tle, as the sheep and dairy business require more skill than the 
beef business. Then, too, the dairy business requires an increase 
in the amount of labor used upon the farm, and the labor item is one 
that many farmers are trying to reduce. 

Pastures First, Then Live Stock 

The question of the introduction of more and better live stock 
of all kinds into the South is worthy of the careful and thoughtful 
attention of every one of our Southern farmers ; but, unfortunately, 
many people do not understand that a man must be a good farmer, 
a good crop and pasture producer, before he can be a good and suc- 
cessful stock farmer — that is, many are prone to view the live-stock 
business from the wrong end. i\Iany farmers labor under the im- 
pression that the proper way to start into live stock is to first 
procure the live stock. 

The first thing to do is to establish pastures. This method of 
starting is all right if the farmer is so fortunate as to have fences 
to hold the animals when they arrive and good pastures within the 
fences for the animals to graze upon when released from the ship- 
ping crate. But the man who has never maintained stock upon 
the farm is usually not equipped with fences and pastures, and this 
kind of farmer cannot be impressed too strongly with the thought 

Page 33 
3 



LIVE STOCK 

that pastures come before live stock and that pastures are essen- 
tial to profitable live-stock production. The farmer who is not 
properly equipped with pastures should be made to know that the 
first step in the handling and feeding of live stock is the establish- 
ment and preparation of both permanent and temporary pasture 
crops, and that the animals themselves should be the last addition 




Red Clover and a Stock Raiser 



to a well-equipped and properly appointed live-stock farm. Pro- 
spective live-stock men should understand that there is time enough 
to bring the stock to the farm after the feed and pastures are made 
and ready for consumption. 

Thousands of farmers all through the South have gone into the 
stock business backwards, and a thousand other farmers are now 
thinking of traveling in the same way. The backward method of 

Page 34 



LIVE STOCK 

introducing oneself into the live-stock business is toi bring the ani- 
mals to the farm before the fences, fields, and pastures are ready to 
receive them. When the live-stock business is inaugurated im- 
properly, the animals are necessarily put up in small pens or lots 
and fed solely on high-priced feeds or turned out into fields poorly 
fenced and poorly sodded with grass. Such unfa^'orable condi- 
tions soon discourage the owner. He soon realizes that a mistake 
was made in getting the stock before the pastures. In short, the 
unfortunate owner soon realizes that he went into the business 
backwards, and he usually continues to back until he has com- 
pletely backed out of the live-stock business. 

Don't go into the business backwards. 

The farmer who has had such an experience knows wh}' he failed. 
He also knows that if he had started right there would have been 
no failure ; but the unfortunate thing about it is that the neighbors 
oftentimes do not know, and they naturally conclude that live stock 
cannot profitably be made a part of the Southern system of farm- 
ing. It is far better for both the individual owner and the coun- 
try that no start at all be made in live stock than for a start to be 
made in such a wa}' as to insure failure. 

We do not need to give special illustrations to prove that farm- 
ers who have tried to grow and produce animals without pastures 
as a basis almost always fail. Neither do we need to give special 
illustrations to prove that in almost every case where stock have 
been kept at a profit, pastures were responsible for the success. 

The man who realizes that the pastures afford the cheap feeds 
for all kinds of live stock, that the establishment of pastures is the 
very basis of successful live-stock production, that a man must be a 
good farmer before he can be a good and successful live-stock 
owner, never, or seldom, sees the time when his animals fail to ren- 
der an exceedingly satisfactory profit. The farmer who has good 
pastures soon learns that they save from fifty to seventy-five per 
cent of the high-priced grains. 

In short, the chief business of the live-stock farmer is to have 
good pastures as many months of the year as possible. To pro- 
duce live stock at the highest profit, the animal should be made to 
think it is summer all the time. 



Pay with a check; for when cashed, it is the best form of receipt. 
Pase 35 



LIVE STOCK 

The Kind of Cattle 

No one should be made to think that money can be made on 
beef cattle, even with the very best system of pastures, unless good 
cattle are raised. By " good cattle " it is not necessarily meant 
that they must all be pure-bred animals, but it is meant that the 
male must be a pure-bred animal of some one of the recognized 
beef breeds. To begin with, the cows may he. and necessarily must 
be, the common cows of the county. But it should be understood 
that no progress can possibly be made towards better cattle and 
more money when the common bulls of the count)^ are also em- 
ployed. This has been done already year after j'ear, and nothing 
but disappointment has resulted. Pure-bred bulls should always 
be used ; and each farmer, before beginning the beef-cattle busi- 
nesSj should decide upon the breed best suited to his particular farm 
.and locality, and then everlastingly stick to that breed. When it 
becomes necessary to change bulls to avoid inbreeding, never 
change the breed ; always stick to the breed you started with. 
When this is done, it will be only a few years initil a good herd is 
built up which any man may be proud of. 

The Breeding Herd 

While farmers differ in their opinion as to whether bulls should 
be allowed to run with the cows, the writer believes that the best 
plan, when everything is considered, is to have the bulls be with 
the cows during the breeding season, but remove them just as soon 
as the season is past. Of course, breeders of pure-bred animals 
could not follow this plan. In Alabama the calves should come 
during the early spring months. Under average Alabama farm 
conditions it is better to have no calf at all than a late one, so the 
bull should be taken away from the cows early enough to avoid the 
raising of late calves. 

If the pasture is of good quality and abundant, the cows and 
calves will require but very little attention during the summer 
months. Ordinarily no supplementarj' feeds, except salt, will be 
used during the pasture season. 

But when fall arrives, both the mothers and the calves must have 
extra feed and care. The calves must now be taken away from 
their mothers and fed alone. The mothers themselves must be 

Page 36 



LIVE STOCK 




1. Orchard. 



2. Peach Orchard 



kept in condition for producing the next crop of spring calves. If 
the mothers be expected to produce large and strong calves and 
nourish them virell after they are born, they must receive both good 

Bv this it is not 



care and attention throughout the cold months. 
Page 37 



LIVE STOCK 

meant that these cows must be fed all winter on high-priced feeds 
altogether. They should not, however, be permitted to run down 
noticeabh' in flesh, but it is not necessary to make use of large 
amounts of high-priced feeds in order that the weights of the cows 
be maintained. The breeding herd should be largely maintained 
upon cheap roughage, some of which may be entirely unsalable. 
The kind of roughage used will vary. Some farmers make large 
use of oat straw and corn stover: A cow may be wintered in good 
shape on oat straw and corn stover when they are supplemented 
with two pounds of clover hay a da^^ This is cheap ration, and 
one which, under ordinary farm conditions, will prove to be satis- 
factory. Corn silage, when available, is undoubtedly one of the 
cheapest and best feeds to be used as the principal part of the win- 
ter ration of breeding cows. A. daily ration of about eighteen 
pounds of corn silage, plus two pounds of clover or cowpea hay, 
together with all the oat straw the cow will eat, will be sufficient 
feed to cause a small increase in weight during the cold months. 
This ration, as the farmer knows, is an exceedingly cheap one. The 
breeding cows should be made to use the cheap roughage of the 
farm. This is one of the main uses of the beef animal on the farm. 
The business of producing beef cattle cannot be made a profitable 
one when only high-priced feeds are fed. 

Fattening the Calves and Steers 

The beef-cattle business can be, and usually is, divided into two 
parts — breeding and fattening. As a rule, the man who raises the 
calf does not finish it on his own farm for the market. He usually 
sells it to a neighboring farmer who makes a business of fattening 
and preparing the calf or steer for the market. Thus the feeder 
oftentimes has no interest at all in raising the calves. Probably 
the ideal condition, at least for Alabama and adjacent States, is for 
the calf to be raised and finished on the same farm. But this ideal 
condition can seldom be realized, because the man who raises the 
calf has, as' a rule, only a few cows, and can seldom afford to take 
the time and trouble to fatten the few calves which these cows bring 
each year. Even if the small farmer were to fatten these few 
calves each year, he could seldom afford to ship them to the large 
markets, so he is at the mercy of the local buyers. As a result of 

Page 38 



LIVE STOCK 

this condition of affairs, the professional feeder has developed. 
His business is to collect calves and steers into car-load lots and 
prepare them for the open market. 

The farmer who has as many as thirty breeding cows on his farm 
should make it a rule to fatten their oft'spring himself. He can 
seldom afford to sell the calves to the professional feeder. The 
feeder usually makes money on the process of fattening, and the 
man who raises calves in sufficient numbers should keep this extra 
profit at home. Furthermore, the farmer who has from eight to 
twelve calves or steers ready for the feed lot will usually find it 
profitable to buy a sufficient number of feeders to complete the 
load, and he can then finish all of them on his own farm. 

There are many wa^'s of disposing of beef calves or cattle, and 
the farmer should be watchful to avoid methods by which money 
might be lost. It is possible to raise beef cattle properlj- and by 
selling them improperly to lose money on the business in just the 
same wa}' that it is possible to raise good apples, potatoes, and 
peaches and lose money on them when the marketing part of the 
business is not studied and given proper attention. When beef 
cattle are bred, fed, and marketed in a scientific and businesslike 
manner, satisfactory profits should be realized. 

The farmer who raises calves is often at a loss to know at what 
age they should be disposed of. The spring calf may be sold the 
subsequent fall. It maj^ be fattened during the winter months and 
sold as a fat yearling calf; it may be kept on the farm until it is from 
two to four years of age and then sold to a professional feeder ; or 
the mature steer may be fattened on the farm where it was raised 
instead of being sold to a feeder. On account of the various meth- 
ods which it is possible to adopt for disposing of beef animals, the 
owner is often in doubt as to the most profitable manner of han- 
dling and disposing of his crop of calves. In the past our farmers 
and planters insisted on keeping the offspring of their beef cows 
until they were from three to four years old, but many inquiries 
, are now made as to the advisability of fattening the calves so as to 
dispose of them by the time they are a year old. 

There may be " no plows in the pawn shop," but plenty of them 
are covered with rust and chattel mortgages. 

Page 39 



LIVE STOCK 

Two or three points can be urged in favor of this system. First, 
more breeding animals can be kept upon a farm when the off- 
spring are disposed of at an early age than when they are held and 
sold as steers. Second, the younger the animal, the cheaper each 
pound of beef is made. Third, the money invested is turned more 
rapidly when the calves are sold at a young age. 

Fattening Yearling Calves 

During the winters of 1910-1911. 1911-1912, and 1912-1913, the 
writer, working in cooperation with the Bureau of Animal Industry 
at Washington, studied the question of fattening beef calves dur- 
ing their first winter and selling them the following spring when 
they were about one year old. In the first test the calves, which 
averaged 338 pounds in weight at the beginning of the fattening 
period (November 17), were divided into three lots and fed upon 
different feeds. The first lot was fattened on a ration made up of 
cotton-seed meal, cotton-seed hulls, and alfalfa hay. The second 
lot of calves was fed a grain ration of cotton-seed meal and corn- 
and-cob meal in the proportion of two to one, cotton-seed hulls, and 
alfalfa hay. The third lot was fed the same feeds exactly as those 
given to the second lot, except that the relationship between the 
cotton-seed meal and hulls was reversed. They were all fed under 
a good shelter. Calves will not do well unless they are protected 
from the cold winds and rain. They all made good gains, making 
1.71, 1.76, and 1.83 pounds per calf per day in the respective lots. 
When they were sold, March 17, their average weights were 541, 543, 
and 546 pounds in the various lots. When these calves were taken 
from their mothers, they had cost 3^/2 cents a pound. When they 
were sold, March 17, at Cincinnati, each one hundred pounds 
brought $5.01, $5.11, and $5.26 in Lots 1, 2, and 3, respectively; so 
they netted a satisfactory profit above all expenses of raising and 
fattening. This proved to be a good way to dispose of the corn 
and alfalfa hay, as the corn was sold, by means of the calves, for 
95 cents to $1.90 a bushel, while the hay was marketed through 
them for $20.72 to $21.25 a ton. 

In the second test, fifty-two calves, which averaged 313 pounds 
in weight when the fattening period began on December 10, were 
fattened on a ration made up of cotton-seed meal, cotton-seed hulls, 

Page 40 



LIVE STOCK 




1. One of Many Clear Streams. 2. A Farm in Madison County 



and cowpea hay. The calves were fed from December 7 to March 
29, when the}^ were sold at New Orleans at $5.55 per hundred 
weight. These calves also did well, as they gained at an average 
daily rate of 1.24 pounds. At the end of the test they had attained 

Page 41 



LIVE STOCK 

an average weight of 452 pounds, and were probably ten to eleven 
months old on the average. It cost 3 cents a pound to raise these 
calves up to weaning time ; they sold, as stated above, for $5.55 per 
hundred weight. They also realized an exceedingly satisfactory 
profit, as each calf netted a clear profit of $3.50 above all expenses 
of raising and fattening. It is true that not much hay was fed 
(more could have been fed at a profit), but what was fed was sold 
from the farm by means of the calves for $56.61 a ton. Hay and 
rough feeds can almost always be sold by means of calves for more 
money than can be secured for these roughage when sold in the 
raw state. 

It should be added that all of the above calves were good ones ; 
they were not scrubs. It would have been impossible to have made 
profits if scrubs had been used. These calves, however, were not 
pure-bred animals ; they, were only grades which had been secured 
by the use of pure-bred bulls on the native cows. 

Fattening Steers 

In both the West and the South there are some farmers who pre- 
fer to keep the offspring until they reach an age of from two to 
three years. When this is the case, there are two general ways of 
preparing them for the market. They may be fattened during the 
winter months on cotton-seed meal and hulls or other combinations 
of feeds, or they may be fattened during the summer months on 
pasture and sold some time at the end of the pasture season. Each 
system has its peculiar advantages. The main advantage in 
feeding during the winter months are: (1) The feeder has better 
control of the manure ; (2) the farm work is not so urgent during 
the winter months ; and (3) many farmers can feed cattle during 
the cold months who have no pastures for summer feeding. The 
chief advantages in fattening steers during the pasture season are : 
(1) As a rule, one can make more clear money on steers which are 
fed on pasture than when fed in dry lots ; (2) the labor of feeding 
in the summer time is a very small item, as the cattle are fed only 

The head of the family should not be the only one having a bank 
account. The wife, daughter, and son should start a savings ac- 
count, drawing four per cent interest. 

Page 42 



LIVE STOCK 

once a day; and (3) the pastures are rapidl}' built up from year 
to year, and without the expense of hauling manure. 

In winter fattening one has the choice of many feeds, but there 
are three ar four feeds which can be used to the greatest advan- 
tage. As the cheap and damaged roughage of the farm should be 
fed to the breeding rather than to the fattening animals, we will 
assume that the cheap straws, the stover, and the damaged ha3's 
are all used in another direction. However, if there are no breeding 
animals or stock cattle on the farm, these cheap feeds should con- 
stitute a part of the ration for the fattening steers. These cheap 
feeds must be saved ; they must not be allowed to rot on the farm ; 
they are valuable. The writer has tried many feeds and combina- 
tions of feeds for fattening steers during the winter months, and he 
has found onl}' one that is better than cotton-seed meal and hulls. 
The ration that is superior to cotton-seed meal and hulls is cotton- 
seed meal, hulls, and corn silage. Of course, the majority of our 
farmers do not now have silos, and for those who do not have them 
at the present time it will be a difficult thing to find a ration bet- 
ter and more economical than cotton-seed meal and hulls, especially 
when they are supplemented with one of the cheap roughage feeds 
of the farm. The writer fed one bunch of cattle on cotton-seed 
meal and hulls; another bunch on cotton-seed meal, hulls, and 
Johnson-grass hay ; and a third bunch on cotton-seed meal, hulls, 
and corn silage. On the first bunch a clear profit of $6.97 was 
made on each steer ; on the second bunch $5.50 was made on each 
steer ; and on the third bunch, the silage-fed cattle, a clear profit of 
$7.68 was realized on each animal. 

A¥hen steers are fed during the summer season on pasture, they, 
as a rule, mvist be purchased, if the owner does not raise them him- 
self, the previous fall. It is practically impossible to buy steers to 
advantage after the arrival of spring. Now, how shall these steers 
be cared for and fed during the winter months? If they are to be 
fattened during the subsequent summer, it is unwise to trj' to 
make them gain during the winter months. It is a fundamental 
principle in feeding steers that the more they gain during the win- 
ter months, the less they will gain the subsequent summer. So 
these steers should be fed on the cheapest feeds the farm afl:"ords. 
They should not, of course, be permitted to become weakened dur- 

Page 43 



LIVE STOCK 

ing the cold months. These are the very animals, however, that 
should be made to make use of the stock fields, of the straw stacks, 
and of the cheap stover and damaged hays. The farmer who has 
silage may use a small amount of this succulent feed to advantage. 
Grains and high-priced feeds should be used sparingly with these 
steers. The owner should look forward to making the gains the 
following summer ; then they can be made cheaply. 

As soon as grass comes, the steers should be turned upon it and 
fed a small amount of cotton-seed cake each day about sundown, 
if they are to be sold as fat cattle at the end of the season. It will 
pay to feed the small amount of cotton-seed cake along with the 
pasture. There is no doubt about this. The writer has tested this 
out thoroughly. For five years we fattened one bunch of cattle 
on pasture — nothing but pasture. Right by their sides were other 
cattle which were fattened on the same kind of pasture, with three 
and one-half pounds of cotton-seed cake per steer per day as a sup- 
plement. The steers which were fattened on pasture alone re- 
turned a clear profit of $5.69 each, while those which received the 
cotton-seed cake as a supplement returned an average profit of 
$7.08 each. It paid to feed the cake. DAN T. GRAY, 

Professor of Animal Industry, State of North Carolina. 



MONEY IN FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 



J'N the fall of 1912, Mr. J. H. Cummings, of Chase, Ala., pur- 
chased thirty-six head of cattle and fed them on his farm, 
selling them in the spring at a handsome profit. His suc- 
cess, which he has given us in figures, should convince the most 
skeptical of the profits to be made with beef cattle fed silage. 

Mr. Cummings paid for his silo and all his work and had left a 
wide margin of profit and eighty per cent of the fertility contained 
in the feed left on the farm. Had there been more silage, he could 
have eliminated the cost of the cotton-seed hulls. These cattle had 
only eight acres of silage, which was not quite enough, and this 
had to be supplemented with the cotton-seed hulls. 

Mr. Cummings has pointed out the way to a money-making prop- 
Page 44 



LIVE STOCK 

osition to the farmers of the Tennessee Valley that will add fer- 
tility to the soil and eliminate the cost and worry of the present 
tenant system, besides the money return that insures a cash bal- 
ance for the year's work, as the following figures will show : 

36 head ; cost, 20,732 pounds at 4 cents $ 829 28 

ny2 tons cotton-seed meal at $24 276 00 

50 tons silage at $3 150 00 

30 tons hulls at $5. 150 00 

Total cost $1,405 28 

36 head sold, 29,499 pounds at $6.85 $2,020 70 

Manure saved 200 00 

Total returns $2,220 70 

Leaving a profit of $815.42 on an investment of $1,405.28 for the 
short feeding period of a little over four months. 

Mr. Cummings paid $200 for his silo, and from his last year's 
experience he could well afford to buy a silo every year. 



ADVANTAGES OF LIVE STOCK AND SILOS 




■^^jUCH thought has been given to dairying and live-stock 
interests in the Southern States in the last few years. 
^' This has been caused partly by the advent of the cotton 
boll weevil. 

Alabama holds exceptional advantages, especially along the Ten- 
nessee Valley. We need to change our system of farming by di- 
versification ; and to do this, live-stock interests are sadly needed. 

With our mild climate and long growing seasons, we have over- 
looked the advantages which stand out so prominently before us. 

The high prices of meats to-day and the millions of dollars that 
go annually out of the South for dairy products should make us 
give these industries serious thought. With dairying and live 
stock we are continually turning over our money, and at the same 

Page 45 



H V !■: STOCK 

time building up our farms from the valuable manure from our 
herds. With the dairy cow, we have a monthly cash business. Be- 
sides this, a cow is good for ten years and gives us a calf each year, 
from which we can soon build up a good herd. Start with a few 




J. H. Cummings' Silo 

good cows and breed them to a thoroughbred bull, take care of the 
heifer calves, and before you realize it you will have a dair)^ herd 
which is a constant source of income. 



Using a check book denotes businesslike methods and lends dig- 
nity to the user. 

Pa,2:e 46 



LIVE STOCK 

Live stock is a factory to the farm in which the crops grown are 
consumed ; and where the manure is properly cared for, two-thirds 
of these crops are returned to the soil. Too much of our soil is 
lacking in humus, caused by the lack of diversification and live 
stock. With proper cultivation, our soil should improve and be- 
come more productive ; and these soils can be vastly improved 
with live stock on the farms and the leguminous crops which form 
a great part of their feeding rations. 

Where cotton is the principal crop, the farmer is generally short 
of cash through the growing season ; but with a small dairy, for 
instance, he alwa3-s has a cash income, which makes him more in- 
dependent and gives him a better standing in his respective com- 
munity. 

Good cattle, with proper care and feeding, is the secret of suc- 
cess ; and the proper feeds can be grown on the farm, and should 
not be bought from the mills. Both beef and dairy cattle need an 
abundance of rough feeds and forage, such as hay and silage. We 
have an abundance of forage crops to choose from, such as cow- 
peas, soy beans, velvet beans, vetch, and the different varieties of 
clovers, practically all of which can be grown in this Tennessee 
Valley. 

A'Vith reference to silage, this is one of the cheapest and most 
economical feeds produced, and no farm with ten or fifteen head of 
stock can afford to be without a silo. Silage makes a bulky suc- 
culent feed, of which all cattle are ver}^ fond at znj time of the year. 
They thrive on this feed, and it keeps them in a healthy condition. 
It puts meat on the backs of beef cattle and increases the milk flow 
from a dairy cow. Practicall}^ any crop can be cut up and put in 
the silo, though corn seems to be the ideal crop. Corn needs to be 
put in the silo at what is known as " fodder-pulling time," or in the 
advance roasting-ear stage. With the silo, we save our entire crop 
of corn ; but where the stalks are left in the field, we lose about forty 
per cent of its value. The cost of a silo is small compared to its 
value, and it will pay any farmer to investigate this money-making, 
crop-saving device. Silage to cattle is what canned vegetables are 
to our tables out of the growing season. In building silos, we need 
community spirit, which will reduce the cost of filling our silos. 
It takes an engine and a cutter to put this feed in the silo, but one 

Page 47 



LIVE STOCK 

cutter and engine will easily fill the silos at half a dozen or more 
farms. Silage is worth at least five dollars per ton, and it should 




Silo Built and Filled Within Ten Days; Capacity, 120 Tons; Cost, $120 



be grown and put in the silo for two dollars a Ion. An acre of good 
corn will make ten tons of silage. 

Page 48 



LIVE STOCK 

Many Southern farmers have a few cows and heifers on their 
farms, and the}' are selling these to men who ofifer them what seems 
to the farmer like fancy prices. Keep these cattle on your farms 
and breed them up, as other people realize the scarcity of breeding 
cattle. When 3'ou sell these cattle, you are selling the foundation 
of the cattle industry (in your farms. The high prices of meats in 
the last few years have caused cattle buyers to scour the country, 
and thousands of our Southern cattle are being shipped into the 
Northwest. Dairy and beef cattle, poultry, and hogs mean more 
money and better farms, and we have the market if we will only 
produce the goods. G. W. HUMPHREY,'"' 

Dairv Expert, Southern Railroad. 




HOG RAISING IN ALABAMA 



!)HE production of swine for market is not a specialized in- 
dustry in Alabama, but should be, and would be profitable, 
especially when associated with other lines of farming. 
Numerous beginners are seeking information on the care and man- 
agement of hogs, and even experienced swine breeders are asking 
for advice. 

It is my purpose to advise the Ijeginner and answer a number of 
questions which frequently confront the everyday hog raiser. 

Importance of Type 

The farmer Avho would succeed in hog breeding must have a 
well-founded knowledge of the two types of swine. By '" type " 
is meant the general conformation of the animal. All breeds are 
included in the two types — that is, the lard type and the bacon type. 
The breeds may differ in color, shape of head, or hang of ear; but 
the general conformation is practically the same. The Poland- 
China, Duroc-Jersey, Berkshire, and Chester-White are known as 
the lard hogs. They are broad, deep, heavy-fleshed hogs, and are 
of American origin. They have been developed by selection and 
continued feeding on a fat-producing ration. The bacon type, on 
the contrary, is a long, narrow, deep, thin-fleshed conformation. 

Page 49 

4 



LIVE STOCK 

The large Yorkshire and Tamworth are the principal breeds of the 
bacon type. They are of foreign origin, and have been developed 
on nitrogenons rations. As the result of careful breeding and 
feeding, the bacon breeds have been developed to a high state of 
perfection, and make the best quality of pork. 

As conditions in Alabama are unlike those in the corn-belt States, 
where the great majority of hogs are produced, the question often 
is asked : " Why not produce the bacon hog in Alabama? " A ma- 
jorit)' of experiments show that all breeds of the same tj'pe do 




Duroc Hogs 



equally as well under siniihu' conditions. The bacon hog", com- 
pared with the lard hog, with which he conies in competition, 
dresses but se^'enty to sc\cnt\-fi\'c iier cent. The dressed weight, 
compared to the Vive weight, practically decides the ^■alue of all 
hogs in the great market of the Central West. On this account, 
and the fact that packers can secure and utilize a sufficient supply 
of immature and unfinished lard hogs in place of true bacon hogs, 
there is as yet no well-established market or demand for the latter 
class of animals. Although conditions in certain localities of this 

Paae 50 



LIVE STOCK 

State are suitable for the production of bacon hogs of high quality, 
their breeding and feeding should not be undertaken in competi- 
tion with the lard hog, unless in particular centers the demand is 
sufficient to insure prices leaving a profit over the cost of produc- 
tion. 

The Selection of a Breed 

Having studied the two types of swine and decided that, at pres- 
ent, the lard type of hog is, in most cases, preferable for market 
production by Alabama farmers, the c(uestion next arises as to 
which breed of lard hogs should be selected. The four leading 
breeds of lard hogs may be classed according to numbers, as fol- 
lows : Poland-China, Duroc-Jersey, Berkshire, and Chester-White. 
Each of these breeds is well established, and possesses and trans- 
mits the characteristics — low-down, symmetrical conformation — of 
the lard type of market hog. Each farmer should select from these 
breeds the one that, on the whole, best suits his particular condi- 
tions, judging from his personal preference, his method of produc- 
tion, the local popularit}'" of the breed, and the market demands. 
The most desirable market hogs are those of uniformity in breed 
and type, combined with finish and quality. There is so little dif- 
ference between the breeds, when properly handled, that the results 
obtained will be due to the intelligence of the breeder rather than 
to the merits of the breed itself. 

Selection of Breeding Stock 

Swine ofifer a greater opportunity for improvement and upgrad- 
ing than any other class of live stock. There is no reason why any 
farmer raising hogs should have a herd of scrubs and inferior indi- 
viduals. Starting with a pure-bred sire and continuing to use a 
sire of the same breed, but a few years are required to establish, at 
little expense, a grade herd equal to pure breeds in every way for 
pork production. No class of animals increases so rapidly and none 
so readily retains the acquired characteristics. Even when start- 
Deposit the sale of your cotton and other farm products with us, 
and let us enter them on your passbook. Check it out as needed. 
At the end of the year your passbook will show what every crop 
made, and your checks will be a receipt for every dollar spent. 

Page 51 



LIVE STOCK 

ing with an inferior lot of sows, a uniform herd can be developed 
by using a good boar and each succeeding year rejecting all infe- 
rior animals from the breeding herd. 

A Good Boar is Essential 

The most detrimental factor to swine breeding is the " scrub "' 
boar, for he has neither individualit)', good breeding, nor any qual- 
ity worth transmitting. The herd boar should be pure bred and 
have individual merit and character. Pure breeding should insure 
prepotency in the sire and give uniformity and character to his off- 
spring. The breeder should become a competent judge and study 
the type, shape, and conformation of his animals under different 
ages and conditions. 

Practical Swine Management 

The sire should be strong in the characteristics of the breed and 
possess the type of market class to which he belongs. While the 
boar ma}' well have the proper color markings and points of the 
breed, it is all important that he should possess a combination of 
size and quality. A sire of the lard type should be short and broad 
in the face, broad between the eyes, and have short, broad ears. 
His neck should rise rapidly l)ehind the ears and widen into a body 
which is long, uniformly wide and deep. Boars often become too 
wide and rough in the shoulders, with deep wrinkles in the skin. 
The thick plates of hard skin on the sides of the shoulders are 
sometimes called " shields." Mature boars are liable to develop 
massive forequarters and be narrow behind, with insufficient depth 
in the hams and twist. Sires of this sort should be avoided. Seek 
refinement in the head and forequarters, with a broad, strong, 
slightly arched back, a wide loin, and wide, deep hams. It is im- 
perative that the legs and feet of a boar be short, strong, and sound. 
The tendency has been to pay particular attention to the hog's 
conformation of bod}^ and too little to his legs and feet. The legs 
below the knees and hocks should be of medium size and free from 
fleshiness or wrinkles in the skin. 

Good bones have quality and proper shape. Size and coarseness 
do not alwaj'S indicate strength. The pastern of the hog should 
be short and upright, giving strength and support to the limb abo\c 

Page 52 



■ LIVE STOCK 

and the foot below. After having selected the boar, with refer- 
ence to his individuality and family characteristics, quarantine him 
for at least three weeks before using for service. Parasites and dis- 
ease are often introduced by newly purchased animals. During 
the period of quarantine handle the boar and get him into proper 
shape for service by proper feed and exercise. He may have the 
run of a small grass paddock, and, if young, may be fed three times 
a day ; if mature, twice a day will suffice. When the boar is five 
or six months old, he will do best if kept by himself, and should not 
he used for service until seven and a half or eight months old. As 
a general rule, it is inadvisable to allow a boar to serve more than 
once a day, and he should not be used immediately after feeding. 
Early in the morning is the best time to use him. The boar should 
be treated two or three times a year with crude oil, as prescribed in 
the treatment for lice, to keep his hair and skin in proper condition. 
When over a year old, the feet often need trimming. The tusks 
should be cut with a large nipper or pinchers twice a year, and not 
knocked out with a cold chisel. The latter cruel practice often re- 
sults in fracturing the jawbone and causes serious trouble. 

A tried sire should be used as long as possible, for such an ani- 
mal is the surest proposition and should not be disposed of before 
a successor has been sufficiently tested. 

Selection of the Brood Sow 

The sire is often considered half the herd, but in reality the fe- 
males are equally important. The typical sire will transmit his 
qualities of excellence to his get, but the best results will only be 
had when he is mated with proper dams. The dams should hare 
the same combination of size and quality requisite in the sire. In 
conformation she need not be so compactly built, and may be 
somewhat finer in features and bone. The sow that is quiet and 
docile in temperament proves a good mother and is careful with her 
litter. These characteristics can, to some extent, be judged before 
■ the sow has been used. The ideal sow has ten to twelve well- 
developed, sound teats. Sows occasionallv have " blind " teats 
that are rarely detected before farrowing. The number of sound 
teats is sometimes considered an indication of prolificacy in the 
sow. Prolificacy usually is a family characteristic, and it is wise 

Pasc S3 



LIVE STOCK 

to select a prospective brood sow from a large litter of robust pigs. 
The strongest pigs of a litter, most suitable for prospective sows, 
usually nurse from the teats nearest to the front of the udder. The 
prospective brood sow may, therefore, be chosen before she is taken 
from her dam. 

In selecting brood sows, the highest possible standard of excel- 
lence should be retained, and all others should be marketed for pork. 

A practice too common in the South is to raise hogs in the woods, 
v/ithout any special care as to breeding or feeding, or else raise 
them in a dry lot and feed nothing but corn. In the former case 
the hogs make little growth and make an inferior animal that is 
hard to sell at any price, while those raised in the dry lot are never 
healthy or thrifty ; and though they take on flesh, it is at a cost 
that wipes out all profit. Hogs raised on corn alone, worth 70 
cents a bushel, will cost the owner 10 cents a pound on foot when 
ready for the market. 

Hogs can be raised for 2 to 3 cents, but only when raised on pas- 
tures supplemented by corn or by crops grown for them, as oats, 
peas, and soy beans. Hogs are strictly a grazing animal, and 
should always be provided with pastures of Bermuda and clovers 
for summer and the winter-growing crops of oats, barley, or rye for 
winter. 

The small pigs should have a separate feeding pen or lot ar- 
ranged so the larger hogs cannot get in. Hogs should be provided 
with plenty of shade in the summer and dry sleeping quarters in 
the winter and plenty of fresh water at all times, and should be 
inoculated against hog cholera and have access to the following 
mineral mixture : 

Charcoal (bushels) IjA 

Salt (pounds) , 4 

Hardwood ashes (pounds) 10 

Slacked lime (pounds) 4 

CLARENDON DAVIS. 



Open a savings account, drawing four per cent interest, com- 
pounded semiannually. 



Page 54 




LIVE STOCK 
THE SOUTHERN CROPPING SYSTEM 

■ R, I should say, the lack of any proper system. Farming in 
the South is behind that of the North mainly because of 
the total lack of systematic farming- and rotation, and no 
improvement can ever be made so long as men parcel out their land 
in little pieces for tenant croppers to grow cotton, without any idea 
of farm development and soil improvement. 

A real tenant system — a plan by which real farmers can take a 
farm and, instead of running it down, build it up — has been devised 
and put into successful practice for over thirty years in Eastern 
.Maryland. It is founded on the remark of the man who started it : 
" I do not want a man on a farm of mine who cannot make money 
there for himself while making the farm better every year." This 
man started with the idea that farming, as a joint enterprise l:)e- 
tween owner and tenant, could be made profitable to both. He 
bought a farm, with comfortable buildings and barns, and made a 
contract with a farmer to take it and manage it on shares. The 
landlord furnished the farm and buildings and kept them in repair. 
He furnished the fencing material, and the tenant built the fences. 
He furnished the paint and whitewash for the buildings, and the 
tenant applied them. The tenant must have a reputation as an in- 
telligent farmer and must own stock enough for the farm. He 
must farm in a regular rotation as laid down in the contract, and 
all the hay and fodder and straw belong to him so long as he feeds 
them to his stock. He pays no rent for the stock except the ma- 
nure. If a man has been on a farm hve }'ears and the farm shows 
no imprcn-ement, he is apt to be moved ; but so long as he farms 
according toi contract, he is certain to stay right there. This man 
bought farm after farm fnim the rentals of the preceding ones, un- 
til at the time of his death he had nearly 25,000 acres of land in 
fifty-six farms, all fitted with dwellings of comfortable class and 
with tenants making money, while the landlord was paying taxes 
on a million dollars', worth of real estate, all made at farming. 
There are men living on these farms who have been there for over 
thirty years, and some have handed down the farms to their sons, 
who are farming on the same contract. Others have bought fine 
farms for themselves and have a good bank balance, and the lands 

Page 55 



lEP 24 1913 



LIVE STOCK 

of the estate have steadily improved. By this fair system other 
men in Maryland have become millionaires, and the lands have been 
improved; and there are men of standing and influence in their 
county aiitairs who live on these rented farms and prefer it to own- 
ing one. There is no better opportunity' in the South for men of 
means than the establishment of just such a S3'stem ; but it means 
fitting the farms with dwellings, and not cabins, and equipping them 
so that men with means for farming can be induced to take them. 

These iiiillionaire landowners of Maryland are the plainest sort 
of business men and perfectly accessible. There is a story told of 
Captain Andre^v ^V(lodall, wlio owned more than a million dollars' 
worth of farms in Kent and Cecil Counties. He had an office on 
the wharf at Georgetown. One day an exquisitely dressed young 
man, with a shiny buggy, went there with the intention of renting 
a farm. He saw a rather " seedy-looking " man on the porch, and 
said: " AVill you hold my horse a while?" "Certainly," said the 
man ; and he stepped down and took charge of the horse. The 
young man went into the office and met the clerk and asked him 
if Captain Woodall was in. " Xo," said the clerk. " When will 
he be in?" "That depends on how long ^'ou keep him holding 
your horse." That fellow did not get a farm, for Captain Woodall 
knew a farmer at sight. 

Renting farms on a fixed contract with men able to farm and 
giving the tenant a fair show has made more than one millionaire 
in Mar3'land. and the same sensilile s\stcm would make millionaires 
and wealthy tenants all over the South. 1 knew a man who had 
been prominent in his county, had been a State Senator, and had 
means invested in various enterprises, who lived all his life on a 
rented farm, and said that he could make mure mcmev than by 
owning and farming, it, while the investment in the farm gave the 
millionaire owner a clear income of fi\-e per cent on his investment, 
or 1)etter than government bonds. When a landowner gets in the 
wheat crop alone over 100,000 bushels in rent, it is easy to see that 
he can bu}' more farms. W. F. JMASSEY, 

Associate Editor of Progressive Farmer. 



Vns,e 56 



STATEMENT OF THE CONDITION OF THE 

HUNTSVILLE BANK AND TRUST CO. 

HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA 

AT THE CLOSE OF BUSINESS, JANUARY 2, 1913 



RESOURCES 

Loans and discounts $546,919 78 

Overdrafts 918 50 

Stocks and bonds 28,200 00 

Real estate . . .- ' 15,750 00 

Furniture and fixtures 8,511 76 

Due from other banks $130,825 91 

Currency 21,049 00 

Gold 7,475 00 

Silver, nickels, and pennies 9,617 62 

Cash items and exch'ge for clearing house 15.538 78 — 184,506 31 

Total ' $784,806 35 

LIABILITIES 

Capital stock $150,000 00 

Surplus and undivided profits 61,322 99 

Individual deposits $477,930 47 

Certificates of deposit 85,872 01 

Due to other banks 5,495 88 

L'npaid dividends 4,185 00— 573,483 36 

Total" $784,806 35 



«5"We solicit Accounts of Banks, Corporations, Firms, and Individuals, We are now 
making a study of the needs of Farmers and in the future will give SPECIAL ATTEN- 
TION to FARMERS' ACCOUNTS. LET THIS BE YOUR BANK, 




000 899 261 7 



OFFICERS 



Clarendon Davis, President 
Lawrence Cooper, Vice President 
E. T. Terry, Vice President 
W. R. Hutton, Cashier 
M. B. Merts, Assistant Cashier 



DIRECTORS 



C. L. Nolen 
W. I. Wellman 
Lawrence Cooper 
A. M. Booth 



E. T. Terry 
Clarendon Davis 
R. E. Smith 



C. C. Anderson 
J. D. Hutton 
J. M. Shoffner 
W. R. Hutton 



